GOETZ SHOOTING VICTIM SAYS YOUTHS WEREN'T THREATENING

By KIRK JOHNSON

Published: May 2, 1987

One of the four young men shot by Bernhard H. Goetz, facing his assailant for the first time since the shooting more than two years ago, testified yesterday that Mr. Goetz was not being robbed or threatened but that he had pulled a revolver and fired after simply being asked for money in a ''normal tone'' of voice.

The witness, Troy Canty, also said during questioning by the prosecutor that Mr. Goetz paused for as long as 10 seconds after firing the first shot before firing again. Mr. Goetz has said that he fired an unlicensed .38-caliber revolver in a desperate moment of fear that he would be harmed by the youths, who approached him in a downtown IRT subway car on Dec. 22, 1984.

Mr. Canty, who said he has been in a drug-rehabilitation center in Westchester County since about four months after the shooting, testified during questioning by Mr. Goetz's lead lawyer, Barry I. Slotnick, that he was unable to remember telling the police or newspaper reporters after the shooting that he and the other youths - all of whom are black - had surrounded Mr. Goetz and threatened or hassled him.

Mr. Goetz's actions and his subsequent prosecution on attempted murder, assault and other charges have generated a worldwide debate over the legal and social issues of self-defense, specifically whether Mr. Goetz was justified in using deadly force or whether he acted irrationally. A Different Perspective

Speaking yesterday in clipped, clearly enunciated answers to Mr. Slotnick's questions, Mr. Canty either denied making any previous statements about robbing Mr. Goetz or said he was unable to recall them.

His testimony contradicted Mr. Goetz's interpretation of the incident: that the four teen-agers were about to rob and perhaps harm him. On some other points, however, Mr. Canty's account did not really differ materially from Mr. Goetz's version, which the jurors heard Wednesday, but rather presented the incident with a different and often opposite perspective.

Mr. Canty, who was 19 years old when the shootings occurred, said he walked up to within about five or six feet of Mr. Goetz as the No. 2 train was leaving the 14th Street station and asked, ''Mister, can I have $5?'' He said that about five seconds later Mr. Goetz turned and said, ''You all can have it,'' and fired his weapon.

According to a taped statement by Mr. Goetz, the youth who approached him drew close and smiled menacingly saying, ''Give me $5.'' Mr. Goetz also said in the statement, which was made to the police in Concord, N.H., where he surrendered eight days after the incident, that the other youths had surrounded him. ''

Under questioning by the Assistant District Attorney, Gregory L. Waples, Mr. Canty said he wasn't sure where the other youths were when he approached Mr. Goetz, although they may have been behind him. In any event they were further from Mr. Goetz than he was, he said.

Mr. Slotnick, who will continue his questioning of Mr. Canty on Monday, said outside the courtroom that Mr. Canty was a ''very crafty witness with a great lack of recollection'' and a ''complete and total liar.'' He had said in his opening address on Monday that he would show Mr. Canty to have been the leader of a gang that surrounded Mr. Goetz and left him no option but to use deadly force. An Improved Appearance

In his questioning yesterday, Mr. Slotnick tried to portray the differences in the way Mr. Canty appeared in court and the way he appeared on the subway on the day of the shootings.

Mr. Slotnick also tried to suggest, as Mr. Goetz said in his taped statement, that the words Mr. Canty spoke were less significant than his manner. He placed a two-year-old newspaper photograph of Mr. Canty - smirking, his arms folded across his chest - on a stand in front of the jurors.

''That day on the subway on Dec. 22, 1984, you weren't wearing that nice suit and tie, were you?'' Mr. Slotnick asked. ''No, I wasn't,'' Mr. Canty responded. Later, Mr. Slotnick suggested that Mr. Canty, who has filed a $5 million civil lawsuit against Mr. Goetz, might have a financial interest in seeing Mr. Goetz convicted because that would help in the civil trial.

''It's to my interest that justice is done,'' Mr. Canty said.

Earlier in the day under questioning by Mr. Waples, Mr. Canty described the scene at the moment of the shootings and demonstrated how he said Mr. Goetz held the gun when he fired.

''He fired,'' Mr. Canty said. ''I grabbed my chest and I went to the floor.'' About 10 seconds later, he said, one of the other youths, Barry Allen, came up and asked, ''Troy, are you all right?'' He said that shortly after that he heard another shot, then two more shots, for a total of four.

A moment later, he said, he heard another of the youths, Darrell Cabey, yelling ''Why did he shoot me? Why did he shoot me?''

According to the charges, Mr. Goetz fired five shots, one of which ricocheted in the subway car. The fifth shot, according to the charges, hit Mr. Cabey, severing his spine and paralyzing him.

Mr. Canty, who admitted under questioning by Mr. Waples that he had been arrested and convicted a number of times for misdemeanors in the three years before the shootings, testified that he and the others had planned to break into video games the day they were shot.

He said he was asking for money so he could put quarters into the machines to avoid suspicion. The three screwdrivers found in the clothing of Mr. Cabey and Mr. Ramseur were to be used to break into the machines and not as weapons, Mr. Canty said.